I have no idea where to start and what would be a fun and easy entry into the game for the 2 of us, maybe my wife, and my 5 year old will want to play but I recognize that may be TOO young.
Does anyone have any suggestions, or perhaps resources to aid me in my decision?
Thanks!
Posted Aug 21, 2020, 1:17 AM UTC
[deleted]
A man of culture
Get the Starter set for Dungeons and Dragons, it's 12 dollars on Target.com right now and includes one of the highest rated adventures of this current edition and a good rundown of how to actually run the game. Plus it comes with dice! If you have any questions let me know!
Basic fantasy rpg is a great place to start and it's free.
Use a different, easier system. I love Here's Some Fucking D&D for it's simplicity, and there is a SFW version included. I have also heard good things about World of Dungeons and No Thank You, Evil.
Hello!
I personally have had no issues running a homebrew campaign with an 8 year old, but I’ve been playing for years and am pretty familiar with the rules. There are lots of resources for kid-friendly campaign/quest ideas out there (I personally started with ‘rescue the postal worker fairies who keep getting caught in the spider webs’ but if there’s something that sounds more interesting go for it).
I would recommend having a look at the basic rules (take a flip through the players handbook if you can get ahold of one) and get a sense of what is involved with playing. You can always take out things (encumbrance, negotiating prices, backgrounds, etc) that might be too complicated for your kiddo(s), but it’s good to have an idea of what everything does.
I would also recommend starting with pre-generated characters. Character creation is a long process if you’ve never done it before, and there are an overwhelming number of options. An official campaign can help alleviate the same problem for you as a dm, but may have to be modified based on your players.
Finally, if you want something a little bit simpler to get you started, I would recommend checking out James Stowe. He has 6 girl and 6 boy simplified character sheets (with fun artwork!) which use a simplified version of play only using a d20. It might be worth trying out a session or two with these, and gauging whether your family would enjoy the full dnd experience or not.
One last note: Even with simplified dnd, there is a lot of reading your character sheet and doing simple math. You may find that a better way to involve your 5 year old is to have a ‘DM’s helper’ who can roll the dice and move the enemy tokens around the map (if you choose to play with a map).
Best of luck to you - I hope you’re able to make this into a fun time to spend with your family